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LIGHTS AT DAWN 



LIGHTS at DAWN 

Poems 



By 
ARISTIDES E. PHOUTRIDES 




BOSTON 

The Stratford Co. , Publishers 

1917 



Copyright 1917 

The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 

32 Oliver St., Boston, Mass. 



*i/k 



MAY 26 1917 



The Alpine Press, 32 Oliver St., Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



©CL.A462891 



To My Reader 

I AM no rebel ; from my inner shrine, 
I watch the endless world and gaze and 
ponder 
As you might gaze upon the restless brine 
From a high cliff with calm and silent wonder. 

Moved by the grandeur of the scene, I sing 

My song in ecstasy ; and midst the woe 

Or joy of life 's great drama wavering, 

I laugh or cry as the great winds might blow. 

Of the vast world and of humanity 

A tiniest and humblest atom, I 

Blow not the trumpet of command, nor see 

The eating rust of things beneath the sky. 

I preach no gospel, pull no temples down ; 

Yesterday's idols, gods that live to-day, 

And gleaming hopes that weave our future's 

crown, 
I venerate as fountains of my lay. 

I would these songs were echoes true of all 
Things noble, great, and beautiful that lift 
Our world above the lower earthen wall. 
If not, may they be dust on sea adrift ! 

Peacham, Vermont. 
August, 1916. 

[viil 



CONTENTS 



To My Eeader . 
The Outer Temple . 

The Dawn from the West 

The Conquest of the Air 

Glories .... 

A Maker's Voice 

Friends .... 

Mountain Climbers 

The Song of the Waterfalls 

On Californian Trails 

War 

Forward 

Songs of a Greek 

Peacham 

Olympus 
The Inner Shrine 

Balm 

Trembling Flames 

Last Solace . 

Captivity 

A Fate's Decree 

Raining 

Shadows 

Silences 



Vll 

xiii 
1 
6 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
17 
20 
22 
24 
29 
30 
31 
33 
35 
37 
38 
40 
41 
43 
45 



CONTENTS — Continued 



Sun-Magic 


. 46 


By the Sea 


. 48 


Beleaguered Kings 


. 49 


Awake ...... 


. 50 


To One Called ''Tempest" . 


. 51 


Creeping Things . 


. 54 


Tranquillity .... 


. 55 


To Kostes Palamas 


. 56 


"Thou, Too, Brutus?" . 


. 57 


I Wish I Were the World for You 


. 59 


The Endless Trail . 


. 61 


Voices from the Graves . 


. 63 


Longing .... 


. 65 


A Stranger's Epitaph . 


. 66 


To a Suicide 


. 68 


Youth 


. 70 


The City of Sin . 


. 73 


The Marble King . 


. 75 


The Death of Egypt . 


. 78 


Laura 


. 79 


A Child's Grave . 


. 80 


Eachel 


. 81 


Lord Kitchener 


. 82 


Dreams and Memories . 


. 85 


An Idyl 


. 93 


Ktaadn and Morning Dew 


. 107 



The Outer Temple 

To Miss Mary E. Haskell. 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Dawn from the West* 

An Ode to America 

BURDENED and bent, 
With their souls aflame and their lifesong 
spent, 
They sailed through the waves and groped 

through the valleys of night; 
And their hearts were heavy with woe and 

panted for rest. 
But they lifted their eyes and behold, in the 

golden west, 
A vision rose from the watery deep into light! 
And from sea to sea, 
Light, flashing and free. 
Spread meadows of green and mountains of 

violet and gray ! 
And the meadows laughed with lily and golden 
rod: 



* Written for the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company 
of Massachusetts," it was read before them at the Old South 
Church of Boston and published under the title "America, the 
Restorer." A Greek translation by D. E. Valacos appeared un- 
der the title "An Ode to America." 

[1] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And the mountains nodded with purple summits 
untrod, 

Empearled with the heaven 's dew and the water- 
fall 's spray ! 

Weary and worn, 

With the clangor of chains and with 

garments torn, 
They sailed through the waves and groped in 

the valleys of night; 
And their dreams were dead, and their hopes 

were waning away. 
But they lifted their faces westward; and lo, a 

new day 
Dawned forth from the western land! On his 

eastward flight, 
The westwind springs 
Upon fragrant wings! 
And the song he brings from the hollows and 

dales of his birth 
Is trumpeted forth on the myriad tongues of the 

breeze ; 
And the weary hear it, the song from beyond 

the seas, 
And their eyes are filled with joy; and their 

hearts, with mirth. 

[2] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

' ' Come unto me, 
Ye burdened and bent from beyond the 

sea! 
I have light for your darkness and dreams for 

your dreams that are dead ! 
For your clouds of gray, I have stars that are 

ever ablaze 
And a sky as bright as the azure of cloudless 

days ! 
And for every sigh, I have flashes of crimson 

red! 
I have gold in my veins 
For your iron chains 
And diamonds eager to grind your fetters away ! 
And my orchards are blessed with a yield that 

shall know no dearth ! 
And my fields, with the golden grain of a sunlit 

earth ! 
And my rivers, with singing waters that revel 

in play I 

' ' Come unto me, 
Ye weary and worn from beyond the sea ! 
For wide are my prairies, and green are my 
forests and dales ! 

[3] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And my deserts are fragrant with sedge, and my 

mountains rise 
Upon pillars of flint and of granite rock to the 

skies ! 
Embattled on hope and on freedom, a new land 

hails. 
As workers of worth, 
Whom the old sends forth. 
Fling open my harbors ! And come, my chil- 
dren of sorrow ! 
For the lifesong I teach you anew, you will bring 

me your gifts 
From the distant lands; and lo, from all nations' 

drifts, 
A new people shall rise in the dawn of a greater 

to-morrow ! 

* ' Come unto me, 

Ye burdened and bent from beyond the 
sea! 
I have light for your darkness and dreams for 

your dreams that are dead! 
For your clouds of gray, I have stars that are 

ever ablaze 
And a sky as bright as the azure of cloudless 
days! 

[4] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And for every sigh, I have flashes of crimson red ! 
Eeborn in my light 
And filled with my might, 

Be my children, and bards, and my iron defend- 
ers of woes ! 

For the hour may come when the flames of a 
righteous wrath 

Shall flash from mine eyes; and before you a 
radiant path 

Shall lead you to smite with your hands my 
glory's foes! 

''Reborn in my light 
And filled with my might, 
Be my children of faith ! And in battle- 
ments drawn, 
Keep watch at the gates of the western 
dawn!'' 

Summer, 1916. 



[5 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Conquest of the Air 

*'Die Elemente hassen 
Das Gebild der Menschenhand. ' ' 

— Schiller 



THE DREAM 

Spirit of Man : 

^/^N eternal space I ponder: To soar 
V>/ On the wings of the Air, 
The blue region to dare, 
And the clouds to greet in spite of the roar 
Of the thunder, — is this a dream and the flight 
Of my fancy ? — ^Who will resist my might ? 
What lawless force with my reason will fight, 
That has yoked the riotous steeds of the sea 
And ridden them safe unto victory ? ' ' 

Spirit op the Air : 

''From the ends I come, to the ends I go; 
Through the infinite world I steer my course; 
And of life, I behold the end and source. 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Everlastingly moving, I roam and blow 
On the mountain cliff and the meadow rose. 
I can lash the seas into graves for those 
Who challenge mine anger and sail as my foes. 
Take warning, worm, and crawl on thy way ; 
My master is not a handful of clay ! ' ' 



II 

THE ATTEMPT 

Spirit of Man : 

"Indeed, thou art mighty; and mighty, thy 

breath. 
Thou canst rage and destroy, 
And canst crash like a toy 
The great oak that stands on thy way! Grim 

death 
On thy wings is hanging ! But I, the weak. 
Shall higher rise than the highest peak ; 
And subduing thy pride, I shall make thee as 

meek 
As a lamb at his shepherd's feet and as calm 
As a wounded chief at the healer's balm!" 



[7] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Spibit of the Air : 

**Thy presumptuous toy like an insect flies 
Through my sacred abode; and thine arrogance 
Lures thee to thy death in a fatal trance. 
Thus did ancient Icarus sail through the skies 
To his watery grave. Let the winds now blow 
On his wings of straw ! Come, my brothers, ho ! 
And smite him and smash him and dash him low, 
Who spreads violent sail against me! Down! 
Let oblivion be his merited crown ! 

"He is crushed! He sinks! And his eloquent 

pride 
Is nought at my angry frown. Hail, fool ! 
My realm shall absorb thy life ; and my rule. 
An eternal Sphinx above thee, shall abide 
While thy blood shall curdle on barren rocks. 
While the forest shall sing at thy fate, while 

the flocks 
Of crows shall tear at thy flesh, and the fox 
Shall scoffingly sniff at thy skull 
And insult thee as brainless and dull ! ' ' 

[8] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

III 
THE VICTORY 

Spirit of Man : 

''Let my brother moulder! Still I, the man, 

Shall entangle thy power ; 

And my spirit shall tower 

High above thyself and thy boisterous clan, 

Like a fleeting bird o 'er the angry rush 

Of the waves. Thy fury shall soon in hush 

To my reason yield ; and a glittering flush 

Of serial fleets shall blaze through thy sphere! 

For my spirit is bold ; and it knows no fear. 

''And behold, I soar and conquer! Below 

My indomitable barks 

Sailing wider than larks, 

The loftiest mountains appear as low 

As the plains to eagles rejoicing in height! 

Blow ! Eoar ! Rage ! Mid thy tumult my pinions 

fight 
Unto victory! Whole and unharmed I light 
On the conquered goal of my daring dream. 
And my brow is bright with the victor's gleam ! ' ' 

April, 1910, 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Glories 

OH, the silent music of the hill ! 
The lulling murmur of the breeze ! 
The green calm flooding in the field ! 
And all the joy of the blue ! 
Glories still new! 
Glories still sung! 
Glories eternal! 
Glories true! 



August, 1910, 



[10 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



A Maker's Voice 

RESPLENDENT in the giory of the green, 
Beneath the blue, beneath the wanton air. 
The winged singers, listless of all care. 
Wander and sing maddened with joys unseen. 

Then Autumn comes, the melancholy Queen, 
Heralded by sad sunset-leaves that bear. 
Stamped upon them, the mark of death; and 

rare 
And tuneless grow their songs with grief un- 
clean. 

With spring comes joy; with fall, decay and 

death ; 
A funeral is signalled by a birth ; 
There blows a trumpet; here, a dying breath. 

hapless man, begotten of a mirth 

To drown in pain, who leads the weary way ? 

— ^A maker's knowing voice from far away! 

November, 1911. 

[11] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Friends 

BLESSED with splendor, wound 
with glory, 
Deathless like worlds with life ensouled. 
Live within us our friends and mould 
Our faintest note into a story. 

A story full of living beauty, 
Lifted with melodies thrice-pure 
That with their waves enwrap and lure 
Our thoughts to the firm rock of duty. 

Duty to join a soul to soul ; 

Duty for friends to dwell with friends, 

And live a life that only bends 

To rise with others strong and whole. 

January, 1912. 



12] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Mountain Climbers 

UNDER sun-enamored shades 
Born of cedar, pine, and fir. 
Through the flower-spotted glades 
Where the fleeting insects stir, 
Past the valleys, past the hills, 
Up the singing mountain rills, 
Upward! Upward 
The blithe climbers go! 
Upward! Upward! 
Past all things below! 

To the lofty mountain peak ! 
To the snows that touch the sky ! 
Where the tongues of ages speak 
With eternal voices high, 
Echoed in their endless rhyme 
By a boumless space and time! 
Upward! Upward 
The blithe climbers go! 
Upward ! Upward ! 
Past all things below ! 

Kern Lakes, California, 
July, 1912. 

[13] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Song of the Waterfalls 

WE are born of the sacred springs of the 
mountains, 
Blithe children of clouds and of radiant glee; 
We are fed by the dew and the snow and the 

fountains, 
And gurgle with laughter unbound and free! 
And our shimmering song 
Shall be mighty and strong! 
Pellucid like crystal and mouldless like light, 
We can gambol with sunshine and play with the 

moon; 
We can sparkle and foam in the dark of the 

night, 
And endlessly seethe with our mirthful tune! 

Fall! Fall! Fall! 
With a sputtering bound and a thundering roar ! 
For our journey is long ; and our goal, far away ; 
And no sleep in the night nor rest in the day 
Can silence the song that we sing evermore ! 

There is strength in the rock that trammels our 
course ! 

[14] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And the tamarack 's sinews are mighty and deep ; 
But the forest 's giants are dwarfs to our force ! 
We are reapers that long to gather and reap ! 

In a plunge and a dash, 

With our crystalline crash, 
We gnaw at the roots and pound on the rock 
From sunset to dawn, till a pitiless whirl 
Shall dance o'er the rock, and a smoking shock 
Shall crumble the tree in our eddying swirl ! 

Fall! Fall! Fall! 
With a sputtering bound and a thundering roar ! 
For our journey is long ; and our goal, far away ; 
And no sleep in the night nor rest in the day 
Can silence the song that we sing evermore ! 

We sprinkle the rose that graces our banks ! 
We laugh at the lilac that sports with our spray ! 
The fairest of ferns in delicate ranks 
And the flowering currant embellish our way! 

We revel through flowers 

And the greenest of bowers ! 
Past walls of basalt and granite, we rush ! 
Through the silent figures of sculptured stone! 
With our voices we break their eternal hush. 
And we drown in our roar the juniper 's moan ! 

Fall! Fall! Fall! 

[15] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

With a sputtering bound and a thundering roar ! 
For our journey is long ; and our goal, far away ; 
And no sleep in the night nor rest in the day 
Can silence the song that we sing evermore ! 

Thus we dream of the day when our course is 

run; 
And we long for the hour of our glorious reign 
When our task is done and our race is won 
And, at last, our long-sought goal we shall gain. 

To the seas of the blest ! 

To the golden west ! 
Where the waves, white-crested, merrily sound; 
Where the winds, swift-winged, their dances 

pursue ; 
To the infinite ocean our waters are bound, 
To the sacred fields of the sacred blue ! 

FaU! Fall! Fall! 
With a sputtering bound and a thundering roar ! 
For our journey is long ; and our goal, far away ; 
And no sleep in the night nor rest in the day 
Can silence the song that we sing evermore ! 

Volcanic Falls of the Kern, California. 
July, 1912. 



[16] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



On Californian Trails 

HERE is to the Land with a heaven bright, 
California rich with the blessings of gods ! 
And her peerless Sierras, her mountains of light, 
Great haunts of glory and beauty's abodes! 

We were five of us, tramping her mountain trails 
Overhung with pinnacles splendent with light; 
The sky, for our roof; for our chambers, the 

dales ; 
And for lulling songs, the whispers of night. 
Oh, for a campfire's joy 
And the sound of a comrade 's ' ' ahoy ! ' ' 
When, puzzled with blazes, you wander 

astray 
Among fox-tails and cedars that lure 
you away ! 

We were five of us watching the moon as she 

spread 
Her gold on the furrowless face of Rae Lake, 
And the rock-born shadows lowered in dread 

[17 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

As the mountains kept their eternal wake. 
Oh, for the sight of a glen 
And the shouts of the merry men 
As through gravel and brush and snow- 
field they plow 
Their light-clad path to the pinnacled 
brow! 

We were five of us, drunk with the glow of the 

heights 
As we stood all amaze in the midst of seas 
That stormed with their fragrance unlimited 

sights 
Of gold-studded meadows and purple-clad leas. 
Oh, for a bournless sky 
And a mountain pass in July 
When lilies and roses blossom in flood 
And the Indian paint-brush reddens 
with blood ! 

We were five of us, greeting the summer snow- 
flakes 
And plunging with joy in the icicled streams 
And the virgin waters of mountain lakes 
Under canyoned storms of clouds and gleams. 
Oh, for a snow-cold drink 

ri8i 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And the glow of a Sierra pink 
Where the waterfalls sing their eternal 

tune 
In the shadows of firs and in gorges 

deep-hewn ! 

We were five of us, racing from Owens to King's 
And from deep-cut valleys to sun-struck glades, 
Who leaned on the aged sequoias, the kings 
Of the Giant Forest, and mused in their shades. 
Oh, for a mountain stream 
And a nook in a canyon to dream 
With the song of the wren and the 

breath of the pine 
As we gaze upon altars of gleamings 
divine ! 

Here is to the Land with a heaven bright, 
California rich with the blessings of gods ! 
And her peerless Sierras, her mountains of light, 
Great haunts of glory and beauty's abodes! 

Sierra Nevada, Calif or^iia. 
July, 1912. 



[19] 



p 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



War 



EACE! While the meadows of life are 
athirst with gray dust! 
Peace! While the wings of millions of spirits 

are bent! 
Peace! While the palace of Soul is burdened 
with rust, 
And the holiest visions like cobwebs are 
rent! 

Peace! While the Titans moulder in bonds of 

decay ! 
Peace! While the hammers of dwarfs beat the 

hands of a god ! 
Peace! While the powers of darkness defile the 

day, 
And the greatest bow at a tyrant 's rod ! 

Oh, I am weary of peace and her bitter fruit ! 
Weary of love begotten of selfish desires ! 
Weary of joy that grows on a sorrowful root 
And a goddess who sucks with the lips 
of vampires ! 

[20 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

War ! For the vengeance of ages engulfed in the 

past! 
War ! For the slaves that wait for a happier day ! 
Battle with sword and with fire while tyrannies 
last, 
And the towers of evil defiant stay ! 

Strike at thy foe and march like the shadow of 

death ! 
War! Till the mountains of light are reborn to 

the eyes ! 
War ! Till the Gods of Olympus awake with the 

breath 
Of the bluest of seas and the bluest of 

skies ! 

October, 1912. 



[21] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Forward / 

FORWARD! Though tide is high and 
the winds blow hard 
Swelling our white pinioned wings! 
Forward! Though towering billows cannot 

retard 
Fate's indefensible flings! 

Forward ! The clouds are dark, but the sky 

is blue 
Vaulting above ever bright! 
Forward ! For pain in strife is a gift to sue, 
Sweet in its fierceness and light. 

What if a grave yawns deep in our tram- 
melled way? 
Brave is to sweep upon death, 
Braver than if a doom that we cannot stay 
Pilfers our coveted breath. 

Forward through storm and dark! Only 
fears destroy 

[22] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Soldiers of hesitant hands. 

Forward! A hero's dreams are the dreams 

of joy, 
Visions of gold-wrought lands ! 

November, 1912. 



[23] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Songs of a Greek 



TO SALONICA FREED 

THESSALONIKE, city of gladdening sound, 
Bathed in the blue and exalted on shoul- 
ders of mountains, 
Victory greets thee anew, and thy brow is wound 
Splendent with leaves that are plucked from 
Pieria's fountains. 



Fling wide open thy gates! If thy ramparts 

are gory. 
Darkened with ages of despot-born grief, tear 

them down ! 
Down ! For thy ramparts hence shall be founded 

on glory 
Heralding over the seas thy victorious crown ! 

Sing to the justice of Heaven a song of glad 
praise ! 

[24] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Send thy free sons to the banks of thy river to 

strew 
Laurels and flowers on the path of the victor 

who lays 
Low the great strength of the Turk and creates 

thee anew! 

Hail to the Spirit's flame and the legions of 

Greece ! 
Hail to the light that has come to the dwellers of 

Night ! 
Hail to the goddess who brings an eternal peace, 
Liberty, blessed with joy and pavilioned in 
might ! 

November 8, 1912. 

II 

TO CRETE FREED 

Hoist higher the banner ! 'Mid stars let it soar ! 
Let the heavens thunder with revelling light ! 
Let the billows swell with exultant might 
And cheer with their laughter her blood-fed 
shore ! 

[25 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Let freedom emblazon her conquerless throne! 
Sing louder her glory! Her brow still bleeds, 
And her hands are bruised with the strain of her 

deeds ; 
But triumphant and free she comes to her own. 

Let the sea bring forward her treasures of old ! 
Let the sun and the moon and the stars bestow 
What is brightest and best in their deathless 

glow! 
Let the earth uncover her diamonds and gold ! 

For each bitter thorn of her former crown, 
A garland of light shall encircle her brow ; 
And for each blood-drop, a laurel shall grow 
To soothe with green leaves each lingering frown. 

Hail, ancient queen of the isles of Greece ! 
From thy distant shores to the ends of the world. 
The glad tidings come by glad breezes unfurled 
That with hands unchained thou reignest in 
peace ! 

February 15, 1913. 

[26] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

III 

TO GREECE 

What if the ivy blushes its last ? 
What if the oak-leaves cover the plain ? 
What if the forests darken and wane 
Misty like shadows and dreams of the past ? 

What if the mountains swell with their snow? 
What if the storm-clouds havoc the day? 
What if the sunbeams shine far away 
Hidden to men that shiver below ? 

Spring is within me reigning for long! 
Gardens of glory, meadows of light, 
Swift streams of waters, rivers of might, 
Flowing to nourish laughter and song. 

Spring ! For my country wakes to renown ! 
Spring, for her bruises are healing anew ! 
Spring, for her laurels bathe in fresh dew, 
Ready to weave her victorious crown ! 

r 27 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Drink to her glory ! Wish her the best ! 
Here is to her, the queen of the sea ! 
Here is to her, the victor to be ! 
Here is to Greece, the land of the blessed ! 

October, 1912. 



28 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Peacham 

GREEN everywhere, and in the midst of 
myrrhs 
Clover-distilled, the little village lies 
Nestled beneath the mantle of the skies 
And bathed in fragrances of balsam firs. 

About, with velvet green, a waving line 
Of hills weaves merry garlands azure-hung; 
The little lakes with silver bosoms shine 
In maiden modesty for charms unsung. 

Beneath the watchful shades of maple trees. 
The gladdened brooks in crystal chatter glide ; 
And in their wooded shrines, the chickadees 
Sing their short song in strains of airy pride. 
And in the hill-bound palace, dwell a few 
Who smile and weep at life's stream ever new. 

Peacham, Vermont. 
August, 1916. 



29] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Olympus 

EMBLAZONED with immortal light, I 
raise 
To heaven's azure lips my shining brow; 
And filled with blue divinity, I bow 
With shoulders clad in gold and silver haze 

At the sea's feet to listen to her plays 
Of sapphire merriment, and hear the sough 
Of my prophetic oaks, and ponder how 
My fame can lift the burden of its days. 

For ever since the noon of life, my crest 
Is gleaming with light palaces divine; 
Purple and amethystine raiments bind 

In god- wrought folds my adamantine breast ; 
Thunders and lightnings, clouds and 

storms are mine; 
And through my voice, the gods still speak 

their mind. 

Mt. Olympus, Greece. 
April, 1914. 

[30] 



The Inner Shrine 

To My Sister Despoena 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Balm 

I LIFTED mine eyes and behold, 
I saw in the darkness of night 
Queen Silence enthroned in her might; 
And watched the great shadows unfold 
From the caves 
And the woods in moonlight. 

I lifted mine eyes to the banks 

That, circling like walls without break, 

Rose over the motionless lake ; 

And saw the mysterious ranks 

Of the pines 

In their slumberless wake. 

Above me, the stars as in sleep 

Looked weary and languid and pale; 

And listlessly struggled to sail 

Across the unlimited deep 

To the end 

Of their meaningless trail. 

[33] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

But Silence with weariless might 

Held sway over beast and tree. 

And touched by her wand, I could see 

Her eyes were agleam with the light 

Of my dreams 

That had faded from me. 

She called; and my heart all aglow 

With agony's revelling flame, 

I answered her summons and came 

To kneel at her temple. And lo. 

As I wept. 

She poured balm on my flame ! 

Mount Eermon, Massachusetts. 
May, 1908. 



[34 



B 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Trembling Flames 

UT do you love meV From the hearth the 
flames 

Leaped forth to look upon their trembling faces 
As they were mirrored in the shining frames 
Of polished brass and danced with magic graces. 

Then from your restless eyes, a quivering light 
Hurried across the space of airy gloom 
To meet mine eyes. The candles glistened bright 
Under the walnut panels of the room. 

It was the light of an unspoken song 
Whose secret dwelling was my timid heart; 
Your words, were they not spoken, I would long 
To hear ; and yet, they sounded like a part 

Of what I had — my native melody — . 

Flames leaped before the metal fields still 

flushing ; 
The crystal eyes were quivering timidly; 
And with the burning blood, the cheeks were 

blushing. 

[35] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And motionless I asked : ' ' Love ? What is love ? ' ' 
''To feel me near you." ''Nearer you cannot 

be." 
Mine ears were ringing with the song. Above, 
The gilded panels glittered knowingly. 



[36j 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Last Solace 

Te spectem suprema mihi cum venerit hora 
Te teneam moriens deficiente manu . . . 

— Tihullus 

WHEN o'er my heaven the darkening 
clouds shall press 
Veiling my thoughts in their far spreading 

gloom, 
And violent winds shall drive my weary plume 
To seek a shelter in some wilderness; 

When my dim eyes beholding less and less 
Of this fair world shall swim in vacant room, 
And I shall smell the horror of the tomb 
Full of the coldness of the Earth's caress; 

Still, if I feel thine eyes thus lean on mine 
Raining sweet love and love's pure sjnnpathy, 
If my hand feels the tenderness of thine. 
Then painless I shall greet the parting sign; 
Knowing that thou, my love, wilt sigh for me. 
My soul with gladness in thy love will pine. 

May, 1910. 

[37] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Captivity 

UNDER the sky, under the light, 
With faint life-fragrance reach- 
ing through 
My prison's walls in tender might! 
Thinking of green, thinking of blue, 
Of creatures flying to and fro. 
And to be captive ! Oh, 
It is a cruel woe ! 

Give me the gift that earthworms have, 
To creep to sunshine at their will ; 
Give me what little sparrows have, 
To warble free above the hill 
As the glad reapers upward go. 
But to be captive ! Oh, 
It is a cruel woe 1 

Let me swim free the azure flood 
Of wanton air with whistling wing ! 
And let me rest my restless blood 

[38] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Where sheep flocks graze, and robins 

sing, 
And cooling breezes blow ! 
But to be captive ! Oh, 
It is a cruel woe ! 

Alas ! I hear the merry sound 

Of the wide world 's awakening song ; 

I feel life's quiver passing round 

My prison's walls, the walls of wrong. 

But I, in iron fetters, low 

I lie a captive ! Oh, 

It is a cruel woe ! 

September, 1910, 



[39] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



A Fate's Decree 

STRUGGLING! Struggling! Strug- 
gling ! 
Pining, panting, thirsting 
For that which is and was, 
For that which ever shall be 
Wastes Man's life and withers! 
Truth divine, how long. 
How long the pain of strife, 
How long the way shall be ? 

— Endless, boundless, coeternal 

With the splendors that it brings : 

Love, and peace, and bliss supernal. 

Strife must play while Man's soul sings ! 

Speed on ! Thy weary feet 

Shall move with quenchless strength; 

But strength that weariness. 

Slow weariness, must hunt 

Unto eternity ! 

It is a Fate 's decree ! 

December, 1910. 

[40] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Raining 

RAINING ! Raining ! Softly weeping 
Spreads above the woeful sky ; 
Through the earth wet tears are creeping ; 
Lonely sparrows earthward sweeping 
Vainly sigh 
For a bright and joyful sky. 

See black phantoms onward sailing 
Through the seas of silent tears ! 
Listen to the voiceless wailing, 
Ever trembling, never failing. 

As it steers 

Through the shadowy misty spheres. 
Raining slowly! Softly raining! 
Shrouded sadly fades the day ; 
Shadows creep on ever gaining; 
Why of all should I be feigning? 
Were I gay, 
Why are sky and earth in gray? 

[411 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Soul of sorrow ever roaming 

On the deserts of despair 

"Where black waves are ever foaming, 

Fold thy wings and stay thy roaming ! 

Stay, and bear 

Midst the world's gray woes thy share. 

January 1, 1911, 



[42] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Shadows 

TELL me, heart close kin to sor- 
row, 
Tell me, when the end will be ? 
Will to-day or will to-morrow 
Bring us rest from agony ? 

Tell me, heart, art thou not weary 
In the dark alone to grope? 
Shadow-bound, unseen, and dreary 
To hunt still a fleeting hope ? 

Tell me then, why art thou clinging 
Still to hunger and to thirst. 
Endless feelings, always bringing 
Surfeit last and anguish first ? 

Listen ! Out a moan is sweeping ; 
O'er a forest solitude, 
There is wailing, there is weeping ! 
Thither go ! There is sweet food ! 

[431 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

In the shadows of the forest 
Fill thyself with painful dreams ; 
There the regions where thou soarest 
Will not shine with lying gleams. 

In the shadows by the river 
Shed thy tears and silent sighs ; 
Shake thyself with Sorrow's quiver 
Far from lights and peering eyes. 

Swarms of thoughts are inward 

flying, 
Humming like the mourning bees 
When their kingdom's queen is 

dying 
Wounded by the autumn breeze. 

Tell me, heart, close kin to sorrow, 
Tell me, when the end will be ? 
Will to-day or will to-morrow 
Bring us rest from agony? 

Hartford, Connecticut. 
August, 1911. 



44 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Silences 

SO many voices bold and bare ! 
So many whispers in the leaves ! 
The winds sound forth a lively air ; 
The ocean roars ; the billow heaves ; 
And yet from all 
I hear no call! 

For silence far about me weaves 
Her mists resistlessly and holds me 
thrall. 

Mirth dances wide and far ; 

The wine of joy fills all the hearts ; 

The mortal eye shines like a star 

That twinkling flings its merry darts. 

Yet spent with fear, 

I cannot hear! 

Life's brimming song from me de- 
parts, 

And Silence horror-laden fills my 
ear! 

November, 1911. 

[45] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Sun-Magic 

OLIFE ! To labor for the light of dawn ! 
To long for the sweet vistas of a day ! 
And in a world of gleaming hopes withdrawn, 
To struggle through the shadows of decay! 

I wonder why should I race after stars 
That ever rise to set? Why waste the oil 
My lamp contains too fast? An ocean bars 
The racer's path with waves that ne'er recoil. 

Should I not listen to the ancient seer 
Singing the humble mortals of the shore 
Who, safe from danger, watch from far or near 
The bold sea-farer ply his fragile oar? 

Alas, I cannot ! From the sacred seas 

A thousand sacred voices call me on! 

And from my land of safety blows a breeze 

Wafting my ship spell-winged toward the sun ! 

[46] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

A sun that never stays its endless course ; 
A sun that knows no rest but hurls on light ; 
And over the untravelled seas, his force 
Shall ever draw me after him like night! 

January, 1912. 



[47] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



By the Sea 

THEN, 
Wide was the ocean; the heavens, blue; 
Gold were the sands; and the breakers, gray; 
And the sea gulls sailed over me and you. 
As white as the white of the waves in the bay. 
With you near me, 
Bright were the dreams I could see, 
Bright as the sunshine, joyful and free. 



Now, 
Gray are the rocks where the billows break ; 
Endless the sea's and the heaven's mirth; 
But you sleep the sleep of a waveless lake, 
And you lie spell-bound 'midst the shadows of 

Earth. 
With you so still. 
Shadows enfold me and fill 
Body and soul with darkness and chill. 

Santa Barbara, California. 
August, 1912. 

[48] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Beleaguered Kings 

THE sun is westering ; the winds calm down ; 
And on the purple flashes of the west, 
The noiseless shadows lower with a frown 
That buries light and marshals all to rest. 

Yet blazoned on the brow of mist-wrapped 

thought, 
My evil bodings steal my rest away ; 
And in lorn castles that my fears have wrought, 
Sleepless I watch the shadows lull the day. 

Woe to the dreamers of the mighty dreams ! 
Woe to the souls that fly with eagle's wings! 
For they shall wander in the midst of gleams 
Forever restless, like beleaguered kings. 

December, 1912. 



[49] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Awake 

LONG is thy sleep, my soul! And all thy 
dreams, 
Perched in thy lightless hollows, sleep like birds 
That in their haunts a dawnless night begirds 
Far from the dayfields and the daystar's beams. 

Wilt thou not wake ? Is not the song of life 
Filling thy caves with radiant resonance? 
Unfold thy wings and leave thy dreamless 

trance ! 
Awake and sing of longing and of strife ! 

September, 1915. 



[50 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



To One Called * 'Tempest** 
I 

WHO ART THOU? 

THY face that darkens with grief and 
brightens with laughter, 
Thy voice that travels on pinions of gloom and 

of joy, 
Thine eyes that restlessly search in the hidden 

hereafter. 
And thy heart that makes of thy feelings a world 
or a toy, 

J^re they the glimmers of lights? And watch 

they the birth 
Of a soul that flutters with life or bleeds with 

despair ? 
What shines on thy brow? A diadem wrought 

with mirth. 
Or a crown of thorns that is woven by spirits 

of care ? 

[511 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 
II 

HER SONG 

While the clouds spread over my sky their 

mantles of gray, 
And the wind of the desert parches my prairies 

of green, 
While the billows seething and surging burst 

into spray, 
And the forests moan with the voices of mourn- 
ers unseen, 
Oh, give me a song with the thunder's sound 
And a melody wrought with the blackness 

of night 
To embody my sorrow in strains that are 

heavenward bound 
As laden as darJmess, and swift as the glit- 
ter of light! 

While the sea of hatred encircles my island with 
foam 

That whitens with wrath and melts like a laugh- 
ter of scorn, 

While a legion of beasts in my meadows joy- 
fully roam 

[52 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

To feed on my flowers and leave me bereft and 

forlorn, 
Oh, give me a song with the cypress's moan 
And the words of a bard who has tasted my 

grief 
That the black-stained thoughts that graze 

in my pastures alone 
May vanish away into sunshine and bring 

me relief! 

December, 1915. 



[53] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Creeping Things! 

SLANDERERS! Secret, creeping, sneaking 
things ! 
Sly beasts that fawn before and bite behind! 
Vipers that hiss their poison in my sleep 
And sing like nightingales when I awake! 

Hiss on! Bite on! My body is of flesh. 
And my poor heart is filled with mortal blood! 
They heed your poison and yonr bites, and wane 
As flowers wane when wintry blasts are blowing. 

But I am more than that ! Within me shines 
A light that dazzles all your bane away! 
And in the waters of my crystal lakes, 
Shadows of mountains strong and tranquil 
bathe ! 

Pour forth your venom! Blast my crystal 

frame ! 
When I am gone, some winged bards will come 
To dwell among my ruins and sing a song 
Of fuller sound and power than all my life. 

January, 1916, 

[54] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Tranquillity 

EASTERN breezes softly blowing, 
Whisperings of songs sea-born, 
Restless waters ever flowing 
Over caves that pearls adorn, 

Clouds above me gently frowning 

As you scud across the space, 

Vaults that twinkling stars are crowning, 

Crowns that Time cannot efface, 

Heavens ever bournless rising. 
Lords of days and months and years. 
Tranquil, endless, eternizing 
All that lie within your spheres, 

Give me that for which I am pining 
On my yawning surging sea! 
From your kingdoms ever shining. 
Send me sweet tranquillity! 

January^ 1916. 

[55] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



To Kostes Palamas 

THE darkling forests stood in mournfulness 
Upon the hills; the sky was gray; the sea 
Before me laughed a laughter numberless; 
And on the sands, I lingered silently. 

When lo, across the endless waves that rose 
In sapphire mountains of transparent wrath 
And vanished into fields of foaming snows, 
Thy siren song upon the airy path 

Unfurled its soul of harmony and came 
To fill my soul with verdant ecstasies. 
Moonlit and sunlit worlds of new-born fame, 
The children of thy rhythmic reveries, 

Eise from thy flaming battlements of thought 
And nestle on the ranges of thy light 
Like cities with a sculptor's fancy wrought 
Upon the virgin mass of marble bright! 

February, 1916. 

[ 56 ] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



**Thou, Too, Brutus?'* 

FRIENDS, too! Come, lash and bruise with 
whip and knife! 
With friendly claws tear up my breast ! and feel 
The trembling pulses of my heart ! and steal 
The lingering drops of blood that warm my life ! 



What if you raised me to the mountains high 
With love and care? For when the soul has 

grown 
It craves that love which gave it wings to own 
And raise to thought; else it cannot fly; 



And on its mountain tops fear-driven seeks 
A laughless cliff to rest its drooping wings 
Among the cloud lords and the thunder kings, 
Mere dust blown by the winds against the peaks. 

My veins are thickened with their dreams of 
death ; 

[57] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Gray rains of tears beflood my fallow lands; 
And red flames bite my crumbling battlements 
Drowning the call of life in their fierce breath. 

March, 1916. 



[58] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



I Wish I Were the World for You 

I WISH I were the morning breeze 
To kiss your hair in play 
And whisper love songs from the trees 
When your eyes greet the day. 

I wish I were the laughing stream 
To cool you with my spray 
When at my banks you come to dream 
In the sweet air of May. 

I wish I were the deep blue sea 
With waters never failing 
To dance and shimmer merrily 
Whenever you are sailing. 

I wish I were a nightingale 
To sing my sweetest lay 
On mountain, hill, or forest dale 
When you walk tow'rds my way. 

I wish I were the crimson rose 
To blossom proud and fair 

[59 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Whenever my fond sweetheart goes 
To pluck me for her hair. 

I wish I were the sunshine bright, 
The light of moon and star 
To kiss your eyelids day and night 
And be near you though far. 

I wish I were the heavens blue; 
I wish I were the sea; 
I wish I were the world for you, 
And you were one with me ! 

South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. 
July, 1916, 



[60 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Endless Trail 

OLYRE, that in me singest with soft strings 
Diffusing harmonies through my soul 's cave, 
Swell into louder sounds ! and let thy wave 
Break through the walls of speechless listenings ! 

What if I hear the voice that in me sings 
When my lips, sealed in silence, vainly crave 
To trumpet forth their song? Whoever gave 
What he had not knows my heart's sorrowings. 

A myriad of whispers blend in me; 

A myriad of lights are flickering ; 

And mingled like the foaming of the sea, 

A world of sound dies ere dawn's quickening! 

Oh, for the ship that, ever burdened, sails 
Far from the harbored land on endless trails! 

Peacham, Vermont. 
August, 1916. 



[61] 



Voices From The Graves 

To Raphael Demos. 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Longing 

SET a cross on my tomb 
Wherever my ashes you lay; 
But a rose tree must bloom 
O'er the dusty gloom 
That shall gnaw at my clay. 

Let the nightingale sing 

With accents mournful and kind 

Of the life I have left behind. 

For I loved the spring, 

And I longed for the days 

Of the rose and the nightingale's lays. 



July, 1909. 



[65] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



A Stranger's Epitaph 

THERE is a land away beyond the seas 
Where northern gales and winters are un- 
known 
And summer reigns with all her melodies; 
There once I wandered young and sat me down 
Musing; and far before mine eyes the lone 
Deserted ruins lay below the hill 
With time worn faces carved on yellow stone ; 
And in the death that bloomed my heart could 

thrill, 
And life, from sadness sprung, my loneliness 
could fill. 

But far away there is another land 
Where tempests live and lasting winters reign 
And roaring billows burst upon the strand. 
Thither I also came that I might gain 
More of the world; and driven from the plain 
Snow-covered, from the lifeless wood snow- 
bound 
To merry halls, I felt my life-light wane 

[66] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Beyond the joyful eyes that scattered round 
Sunshine; and in my loneliness my death 
found. 

May, 1910. 



[67] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



To a Suicide 

SO, thou art dead! Thy earthen heap 
Lies soulless and unloving there 
Where life sleeps dreamlessly fore'er 
And where the ruthless worms shall creep 
In dark to gnaw thy youthful form to nothing- 
ness. . 

And this, when thou couldst choose to live ! 
Swimming in the happy blue, 
Hearing the blissful humming through 
The springtime's green, thou didst but give 
A blow to thyself that e'en the fates thought 
meaningless. 

Where now do thy flying hopes abide? 
What art thou seeking in thy grave? 
Which of thy yonder dreams canst save? 
Whither, oh whither dost thou ride? 
Is there in thee more joy, more love, more 
happiness ? 

[68 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Methinks I hear thy silent moans: 

Yea, all the joy of life is lost 

— Of a bold deed the priceless cost — 

And on dark wings thy soul still groans 

For work now left behind undone and ransom- 

! 



July, 1910, 



[69 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Youth 

Based on a Greek legend 

ON the mountain tops 
With a dewy mantle clad 
And beneath a star-crowned sky, 
A blithe youth alone and glad 
Forward goes and never stops, 
Singing songs that echo high 
Overhead and roll back low 
To the precipice below. 

Buoyant and free, 

Breasting the winds that leap from the sea 

And perfume their way 

Through the forested lands. 

Forth he sings his frolicsome lay. 

Beating his feet and clapping his hands. 

When lo, there come to meet him 
From the precipice below 
Three sweet Fairies clad in snow! 
Sweetly beckoning, they greet him; 

[70 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Forward dancing all aglow 
With their charms they lure his eyes 
Till his song enchanted yields 
Its glad sound to longing sighs. 

Lo, their spell his passion wields, 

And their eyes are aflash 

As forward and forward they dash! 

And the youth, with their warm kisses bound, 

Follows entranced, and gazes, and hears 

As they whisper to his ears 

Honeyed words of honeyed sound; 

In a passionate sway, 

Clings to them and goes their way; 

For they sing and they dance 

In a frantic melodious trance, 

And still downward and downward they go 

Towards the precipice below! 

Who has heard the merry song 
Of the youth that never stops 
On the lofty mountain tops? 
Ah, some have heard it long, 
Long and many years ago. 

[711 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Now, the mountain tops are still 
To the buoyant voice of yore, 
Dumb, and silent. Nevermore 
Shall the free notes fill 
The breeze that creeps up low 
From the precipice below! 

November, 1911. 



72 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The City of Sin 

lake near Sorsov 
but it sunk and h 
the people were given to sin." 



'^ There is a lake near Sorsovi. In the old times, 
it was a city; but it sunk and became a lake because 



— A Greek legend 

CALM like sleep spreads far the lake; 
Sulphur-laden vapors rise; 
Rocks like giants grimly wake 
Keeping watch with hidden eyes 
Lest the sunken city rise 
From the depths where dumb it lies 
Never to be wakened, never; 
Dead to sin and life forever! 

Never green shall fringe the shore 
Of the water's waveless mass 
Where the feasters dwelt before! 
Never flower shall grace the grass 
Yellow from its birth and pale, 
Ever dying, ever frail, 
Never to be quickened, never; 
Dead to sin and life forever! 

[73] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Only in the ghostly light 
Of the vapor-sickened moon, 
The belated passer might 
Listen to the wailing tune 
Sung by restless phantom bands 
Driven o'er the flooded lands, 
Never to be ransomed, never; 
Dead to sin and life forever! 

December, 1911. 



74] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Marble King 

^'Wlien it is the will of God, the angel will descend 
into the cave and will give life to the marble. . . And 
the king shall rise and shall enter the City through the 
Golden Gate, leading his armies against the Turks. . . 
And there shall be great slaughter that the calf shall 
swim in blood." 

— From a national Greek legend 



MY sleep is long; my marble cold; 
And endless my dream of dreams ; 
And years and years like clouds have rolled 
And sunk in the stream of streams. 

My sleep is full of lightless storms 
And full of my foeman's cries, 
The cries of joy that eat like worms 
Deep into my heart of sighs. 

I hear the steeds that stamp and neigh 
And call for my hosts to mount; 
I wait and watch night follow day. 
And thousands of suns I count. 

[75] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

I hear the woes my subjects bear, 
And dream of their longing calls; 
My kingdom wanes in dark despair, 
And sinks to a thousand falls. 

Oh, sing the song that wakens life! 
Give warmth to my marble veins! 
For my soul thirsts for war and strife 
To sweep over hills and plains. 

Weary I am of dust and graves! 
And weary of worms and dead! 
Of plaintive moans and hollow caves, 
The dwellings of silent dread ! 

Would that the shades would sing no more 
Of things my heart desires! 
What if in vain on sunlit shore 
Foam-studded the wave expires? 

Oh, for the angel's trumpet peal. 
The sound that unsheathes my sword 
To crush my enemies with my heel 
And rise a triumphant lord! 

[76] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Till then I sleep, and, marble-bound, 
I dream through the dream-fed night; 
And with my brow in darkness wound, 
I wait for the dawn of light. 

December, 1912. 



[77 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Dead of Egypt 

UPON the great dawn's threshold once, we 
led 
Man 's youthful legions on to deed and thought ; 
In brazen panoplies we marched and fought 
Great empires founded upon might and dread, 

And battled them until their power fled 

To air and dust. Enflamed with life, we sought 

The fountains of eternity, and wrought. 

On deathless granite, walls against Time's tread. 

And temples forested with columns rose 
As sculptured songs of lotus and of palm; 
And in the magic of the sun's gold rays, 

Our kings, embattled with the amber calm 
Of Sphinx-souled pyramids, defy the throes 
Of death and sing the hymn of bygone days. 

By the Pyramids of Sakkara, 
April, 1914, 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



I 



Laura 

LIVED and knew the calm and storm of life ; 
I drank its joys and woes; I laughed and 
wept 
Under an azure sky and clouds of gray. 
Amidst the endless waves of human strife, 
I labored among others; then I slept 
Trusting my soul to God, to Earth my clay. 

April, 1915, 



[79] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



A Child's Grave 

IN this dark grave, I dwell unwillingly. 
In the sweet spring that blossomed with de- 
lights, 
The voiceless reaper flashed his scythe o'er me 
And flung me down to shadows from life's 

heights. 
The pine tree's moan that rises to the skies 
Above me sings of hopes that faintly smiled 
Like budding violets before mine eyes ; 
But I lie cold, a child by death beguiled. 

Peacham, Vermont, 
August, 1916. 



[80 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Rachel 

A LILY on a happy field I grew; 
About me budding smiles gleamed merrily ; 
Pure sunlight with its brightness gladdened me ; 
And thrilled, I gazed on shadeless fields of blue. 
Yet ere the sunbeams drank the pearls of dew 
That crowned my petals, lo, a hand plucked me 
And far beyond the sunset lifted me 
To a new dawn ! Your tears should be but few. 

January 6, 1917. 



[81] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Lord Kitchener 

LORD KITCHENER was on his way 
Across the northern sea, 
And storms and mines about him lay 
To keep him company. 

The winds roar loud; the billows lash 
The ship with might and main! 
A f oeman 's mine ! and then a crash ! 
All hope for life is vain ! 

''Lord Kitchener," the captain cried, 
"Though we be bold and brave, 
The foe has nature on his side; 
The sea shall be our grave! 

''The mine has crashed into her keel! 
The engines swim in brine ! 
By God, Lord Kitchener, I feel 
That England's curse is mine!" 

— "England has only praise for those 
Who die for her like you; 

[82] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The curses, they are for her foes, 
And you are brave and true. 

''Pity the ship that goes to naught; 
A goodly ship was she. 
Pity 3^our men, who could have fought 
For England on the sea. 

''Pity yourself, who might still steer 
Your ship back from the fight; 
Who might still live to see and hear 
That England rules with might. 

"But as for me, my work is done; 
My sword is by my side ; 
And millions five are up and gone 
To strike for England's pride! 

"No grave is better than the sea 
Where England's glory lies! 
No tombstone better pleases me 
Than the bright starry skies! 

"There will be space upon the sands 
For me to lie and sleep 

[83] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

When England's lands are England's lands 
And she commands the deep. 

''The waves will lull me with their song; 
The wind will play with me; 
And when the tides are high and strong, 
I'll wake awhile to see 

*' Whether across the pearl-sown fields 
Fair England holds the sway; 
And whether her fleet still guards and shields 
Her children night and day!" 



1916. 



[84 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Dreams and Memories 

*^By the valley of Tempe, there is the Castle of the 
Beautiful One. And it came to pass that in the old 
days a king went up with a mighty host and smote 
the armies of the Beautiful One. And the Beautiful 
One fled and threw herself down from the rocks and 
was slain ; for she feared lest the king should lay hands 
upon her. And her grave is upon a rock near the 
fountain of Venus. And it cometh to pass that 
on a certain hour a moan riseth from within the grave ; 
and on the grave hath grown a pomegranate whose 
leaves stay on its branches forever. ' ' 

— A Greek Legend 

THE old king pondered; and the young 
king stood 
Watching his eyes rain tears of silent grief. 
The valley yawned before them while about, 
Age-crowned, the cliffs rose gray with mystery. 
From the unhaunted depths came up a sound 
As woeful as the humming of a swarm 
Of bees that mourn above their dying queen. 

The old king pondered and the young spoke 
thus: 

[85] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

'* Father and lord, behold, the wandering clouds 

Eain yearly tears above this solitude; 

Why weepest thou with eyes that should but 
gaze 

On things not to be seen eternally? 

Thou art old; death already bends his bow; 

And on the wings of silent darkness brought. 

His arrow strikes with edge that knows no ran- 
som. 

Nor mercy's melting pleas, nor healer's hand. 

Aye! Lay aside thy veil of tears and seize 

The virgin beauties that beset our eyes ! ' ' 

The young king halted ; and the old spoke thus : 

''Unknowing child, gaze and rejoice; for thee, 
The caves of Gorgon-memories are empty. 
Unbound wdth rusty chains wrought by the past, 
Thou mayest swim free with might untouched 

by age 
In the sweet waters of thy crystal dreams. 
Once I had eyes and blood like thine ; and once 
My heart did revel in the joys to be. 
I wear no mask; I do not fret at what 
Is Fate, the mother of all living things; 
I do not wish for more than what I had; 

[86 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Nor are my tears libations of complaint. 
But I must weep when on these cliffs I feel 
The shadow of my buried dream enwrap 
My soul with phantom clouds of memories," 

The old king pondered; and the young spoke 
thus: 

''Memories? Memories? To me, they sound 

Like music sweet, like glories from afar 

Reflected on the tremor of thy lips. 

But if the wave that surges in thy breast 

Is heavy on thy heart, oh, let it flow 

Free from thy mouth, relieving thy pregnant 

thought 
To fill my empty youth with lifting spirit!" 

The young king halted ; and the old spoke thus : 

"Follow me!" 

And along the rugged brow 
Of the age-moulded pinnacle, he led 
The winding way. A path, long by all men 
Forgotten and beset with sedge and bramble, 
Revealed the only gate to the deep chasm. 

[87 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Surely the trail of death they trod. For lo, 
From the unhaunted depths again a sound 
As woeful as the humming of a swarm 
Of bees that mourn above their dying queen 
Brought sorrow to their ears. A raven soared 
Above them, staining with its blackened plumes 
The azured vaults. An owl that hating day 
Had sought the remnant of the routed night 
In a storm-rent hollow flapped her downy 

feathers 
With fear. Yet over the eternal rocks 
They crept still downward till they came upon 
A terraced cliff midway between the heights 
Sky-bourned above and the unmeasured depths 
Below. 

A heap of ruins lay restfully 
In the cool shadows of the creviced rocks; 
And in a nook withdrawn in endless slumber 
Unbroken by the fretting blasts of storms, 
A mound held someone's life for evermore. 

Over the tomb, a marble column rose, 
Once white, now yellow with the stains of age 
And storm, half-buried in the mossy ground 
And in the branches of a lonely tree, 

[88] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

A pomegranate that bore no flower nor fruit 
But through all winters bent above the grave 
Its leafy boughs of ever darkening green. 
A spring of water welling from the foot 
Of the o'erhanging cliff streamed forth in two 
Soft-flowing arms, embracing on both sides 
The earthen mound and the deserted ruins, 
Lingering as in a caress of love. 
Then, swelling with a grief unbearable. 
The waters leaped in misty clouds of tears 
Into the bottomless abyss below. 
The old king looked about in ecstasy 
And leaned his forehead on the yellow stone 
As children linger on their mother's breast. 
In him, one might behold the living vision 
Of grief incarnate, of a sigh in flesh. 

Benumbed with awe, the young king also wept. 

Then they sat by the fountain on the ferns, 
And he spoke forth with the great voice of age : 
** These ruins, aye, great ruins! great, as life! 
They were a marble palace clothed with splen- 
dor; 
And in the gold-wrought chambers bright as 
fire, 

[89] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

A beauty lived enthroned in holiness, 

Whose raiment was pure light; and for her 

crown, 
The stars of heaven lent their peerless gleam. 
Her essence was all that is beautiful 
In the fresh sunshine of the flower-girt spring. 
Pavilioned in her glorious charms, she reigned 
With might and fame that reached beyond the 

seas. 
Heralding to the corners of the earth 
Her kingdom as the kingdom of the blest 
And her as shadow of divinity. 
Charmed by the glow of her unrivaled beauty, 
I loved her." 

''Loved? And thenr* 

''Thereby I sealed 
My fate and shattered the palace of my dreams ! ' ' 

"Howr* 

"Long I struggled with my mighty hosts 
To conquer her. Mounted on winged steeds. 
We tore the winds and with our frightful 

engines, 

[90] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

We fell upon her lofty battlements 

Till all was ours. My sword drenched every step 

With blood. And when the hour, at last, had 

come 
And I stood victor on her royal threshold. 
The palace, as if touched by the great hand 
Of the Almighty, shook like chaff before 
The wind and crumbled of itself to dust!" 

** And she?" 

''There is her grave!" 

*'0f her?" 

''Of all 
I dreamed to conquer in my restless life!" 

"And what is left?" 

"A moan that from this grave 
Drifts up the cliffs to rouse my buried woes. 
Yet thou art young; go, search for memories! 
The way to such a grave is hard and long." 

The pomegranate that bore no flower nor fruit 
With weary soughs bent over the dark grave 

[91] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Its leafy boughs of ever dark'ning green; 
And from the earth, a wailing sound welled 

forth, 
As woeful as the humming of a swarm 
Of bees that mourn above their dying queen ! 

The old king pondered; and the young king 
wept! 

January, 1913. 



[92] 



An Idyl 

To Frank F. Kimmerle 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



An Idyl 

I dreamed and behold, I saw a wilderness of para- 
dise; and the flowers grew therein, and the brooks 
gurgled, and the sea murmured, and the breezes whis- 
pered softly to the leaves, and the souls of true lovers 
mounted gladly toward the cloudless heaven. 



THE times of old! The times of old! 
When life was life, and man was man ; 
When passions held creation's van, 
And Nymphs were fair, and Satj^rs bold! 

The times of old! The times of old! 
When even trees were filled with blood ; 
When love songs made the roses bnd 
And sowed the barren fields with gold! 

II 

Sun's Battle 

The day had smiled upon the Grecian lands; 
The radiant sun had sent his merry bands 

[95] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

To war against the misty shades of sleep; 
And they, with shafts of light, rose from the 

deep. 
And sprinkling golden flowers on the blue 
Of the Aegean Sea, gladly did light 
On the dew-covered leaves. The mournful night 
Retired beyond the West; the shades sank 

through 
The woods and yawning caves. But they, un- 

fought, 
Battled triumphantly until they brought 
The glow of day on every chasm and glen 
Down to the hollows of the forest. Then 
The sunlit world, awakened from his dreams. 
Flung in the fragrant air his robe of gleams 
As to each tree the breezes whispered low 
The signal of the morning song. And lo, 
The sea winds sprang from sapphire fields aloft ; 
The birds poured forth their melodies; the soft 
Harmonious strains from hill to mountain spread 
Now slow and faint, now loud and merry, till 
The bleating of the sheep near yonder rill, 
Joined to the barking of the dogs who led 
The flock and to the oxen's lowing, drowned 
The music of the birds in a noisy sound 
Of joy. 

[96] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Acis Sleeps 

The world is roused; all things adore 
The light. But in that grotto near the shore, 
Acis, the fairest of the shepherd lads, 
Still slumbers, wandering on Dreamland's far 
And happy Isles. In vain familiar 
The winds sing forth their tunes in myriads; 
Tranquil he sleeps in blessed loneliness. 
The sunbeams playfully in vain caress 
His hair and try to sear his eyelids so 
That he may rise. 

Awake, thou happy lad ! 
Up from thy dreams! The light is bright and 

glad, 
And sluggish rest may render thee too slow 
To do a shepherd's work. Awake! The day 
Has leaped into the azure, and the bay, 
Bathed in the sunshine, sends to the hills above 
Songs from the waves. The deer is up ; the dove 
Cooes to her mate; the sheep sport with each 

other 
Though shepherdless ; the Satyr and his brother 
Laughing their sloth away go joyfully 
Into the woods to climb from tree to tree 

[97 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And hunt the fleeing Nymphs on mossy trails. 
But thou art heedless; though the grassy dales 
Enameled with the morning dew invite 
Thy flocks to pasture, and the larks unite 
To sing 'awake' to thy uncaring ear, 
Thy olive staff lies idle, and thy flute 
Buried in the cool grass is wet and mute. 
Wilt thou not heed the humming bee ? The fear 
Lest she may sting thy cheek so smooth and fair 
Taking it for a rose, cannot yet scare 
Thy sleep away? 

Galatea's Song 

But hark ! Whence comes that song 
That fetters sleep on him? Whence rise those 

long 
And melting melodies? The sea below 
Seems but to roar; and yet above its roar, 
These sleepful accents, sweet as music, soar 
Up to the cave and lull their youthful foe. 
Fair Galatea sings, the Sea-Nymphs' pride, 
A beauty that men's eyes may not abide. 
But why so far away from her sea cave. 
Which, built of pearl and crystal, Thetis gave 
To her beloved Nymph, she wanders? Why, 
Piercing the blue, she lifts her longing eye 

[98 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And gazes at the cave of Acis ? Why 
Sings she so longingly? What can it be 
But love? 

happy Acis, leave thy sea 
Of dreams and look upon a greater blessing! 
Open thine eyes and see her eyes confessing 
The best of joys for her and thee. Awake 
To dream a dream as true as blissful; take 
What living beauty gives and lay aside 
Vain mists and shadows that the restless tide 
Of silent sleep brings forth. 

The Bee 

'Tis done ! The bee 
Alighted on his lips ; the Sea-Nymph screams 
With fear; the bee flies up in fright; and see, 
At last, fair Acis rising from his dreams 
Opens his eyes to gaze on her. But she 
Plunges beneath the foaming wave, while he, 
Already in love, feels in his heart the pain 
Of the sweet wound, and, filled with visions vain, 
He curses sleep, the jealous sorcerer. 
Who with his arts had bound him far from her ; 
And then complaining of her hasty flight 
As treachery, he floods his tender sight 

[99 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

"With crystal tears, until, at last, he grew 
More thoughtful. With his hands he wiped the 

dew 
From his rosy cheeks, and, sighing mournfully, 
He murmured plaintively his winning plea: 

Acis' Plea 

*'How is it that a fleeting moment's rest 
On thy enchanted eyes has roused the best 
In such a restless soul as mine ? And how, 
While meditating on thy sunny brow, 
I drown myself in iridescent seas 
Of happy thoughts and blissful reveries? 
It was a single moment and no more ; 
The breezes with their luring kisses bore 
Thine image far away — I know not where — ; 
And yet, at every flash or shade, I stare 
Dreaming of thee, seeing thy gleaming ghost 
That haunts my thoughts. Oh, would that I 

were lost 
In the embrace of such a spirit's arms! 
Would that the power of thy enticing charms 
Could raise an ocean wide, without a bourn, 
Where I might plunge myself and never mourn 
For life abandoned and for tender years, 
But die without regret or longing tears. 

[100] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

bygone Shadow, nameless and unknown, 
What golden prairies has thy vision shown!'* 

Silent Grief 

His words were sealed with a relieving sigh, 
And he stood silent. But an inner cry 
Raged in his wounded heart, that restlessly 
Beat back all solacing. Above the sea, 
The vernal sun had climbed the top of heaven ; 
But Acis sat in silence, heedless even 
Of his impatient flocks that seeking food 
Had wandered into distant fields. He stood 
Like a' mourning angel, and, with frowning 

brow. 
He sighed and watched, till Galatea's heart, 
Suffering from the same god's pleasing dart, 
Melted with welcome love and sympathy, 
And rising from the dancing sapphire sea, 
She, like the morning star, shone forth. Her 

glance 
Made the white roses flush with crimson red; 
The silver olives bent their boughs and shed 
Pearls of fresh dew upon her path. In trance, 
Acis beheld the wonder; the red flame 
Of happiness seized him, and he became 

[101] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

As crimson as the roses. At last, she flew 
To his rock cavern and began to woo. 

Galatea's Plea 

She spoke; and as she spoke, a mighty wave, 

Rising beneath their isolated cave. 

Burst into seething foam of daisy-white 

Over the blue; and through the spray, in spite 

Of the unbridled fury of the wind 

That, blowing on their rocky palace dinned 

In whirlings of tempestuous unison. 

The radiant splendor of the noonday sun 

Displayed in fleeting hosts the sacred hues 

Of smiling rainbows. 

"See, the wave is loose 
And blue; the sky, in azure; and the blast 
Mingles its restless song that travels fast 
Through the unending smokes of the dancing 

sea. 
How passionate they plead thy love for me! 
Oh, let our sunny tempest break and dash 
Our passion on our lips. The sacred flash 
Of love is now enthroned upon thy cheek; 
Come closer; let my trembling hand but seek 
The touch of thine; it is so sweet to love! 

[102] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Abandon all, yet let our love above 

The abandoned world bloom forth as flowers 

may 
Bloom on a long forgotten altar — " 

The day 
Shone brighter in Acis' heart, and while the 

blood 
Ran to his cheeks that flushing like a bud 
Of rose in May, showed louder than his tongue 
His paradise of love, he kept a long 
And thrice-melodious silence. Then a sigh 
Relieved his breast and timidly his eye 
Sought hers. 

Bliss 

"As flowers on altars?" said he; ''Nay, 
Flowers fade and wither; altars cannot stay 
The flow of time, and soon their ruins show 
Sadly their sacred temples lying low. 
Those cannot last; but ours shall never see 
The day of fading. For against decree 
Of Fate or Death, our love shall ever bloom 
Unto eternity. No gloomy doom 
Will overcome the burning flames that play 
In the soul 's pure shrines ; no mouldering decay 

[103 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Will penetrate into our mingled hearts, 
Breeding discord with wily tricks and arts 
Unholy. But a fragrant, happy spring 
As this we now behold, shall ever bring 
To us new joys, new fruit for our same love. 
Thus, Galatea, let us live and love!" 

A stream of light that shone from each one's 

eyes 
Enticed to sleep all fears. With long drawn 

sighs. 
Their lips united, and their souls, let free, 
Leaped into each other in such ecstasy 
As never blessed two lovers, while her hair, 
Blown by the playful wind, entwined the fair 
Image of Acis, and some ocean Fay 
Sprinkled their glowing beauties with the spray 
Of amethystine waves. 

Through Death 

But lo, a groan 
Brought on the wings of the wind fell like a 

stone 
Upon their ears. For Polyphemus roaming 
By the resounding shore espied the foaming 
Of the glad wave that laughed in happiness 

[104] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

As they still lingered in their long caress, 

And lifting up his jealous eyes, he saw 

The shepherd and the Nymph ! Nor did the law 

Of love check him; in hateful jealousy, 

He swore that never would a lover see 

Again fair Acis. On his lonely path. 

He cast his single eye enflamed with wrath 

About, and seizing with his monstrous hand 

A giant rock from the wave-beaten strand, 

He hurled it. 

Acis fell; but in his fall, 
He heard his tender sea Nymph softly call 
His name in clearer sounds, and warmer felt 
Her loving lips. The cruel rock had dealt 
No death on their unrivaled love. Unknown, 
They glided in a crystal streamlet down 
Into the restless deep; and blended so 
In joy they gurgle in a living flow 
And pass from age to age eternally. 

No End 

Often the sun has risen from the sea; 
Many a spring has gone ; and countless years 
Have passed ; but not their love. The pious ears 

[105 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

May, by the rippling of the playful wave, 
Still hearken to the lovers of the cave 
And their soft whispers. Still the roses blush 
With crimson blood. The silver olive trees, 
Grown in the midst of vernal melodies, 
Still bend their branches to the morning breeze 
To hear their songs of wondrous tune and shed 
Dew pearls on their love paths unlimited. 

April, 1910. 



[106] 



Ktaadn and Morning Dew 

A Mountain Epic 
To Miss Sara A. Bailey 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Ktaadn and Morning Dew 

I 
Prelude 

GREAT SPIRIT, filling with thy light the 
world, 
Whose raiment flower-spangled lifts men's 

hearts 
With joy, — lo, at thy feet, the white-maned 

steeds 
Of the blue ocean meadows fall prostrate, 
Forget their seething wrath, and in soft ripples 
Humbly adore thee, Father of all things, 
Master of passions. Giver of sweet peace ! 
Thee, the gray clouds above, that hide thy brow 
Serene from mortal eyes, obey; and melting 
In flying snow-flakes and in gliding rain-drops. 
Bear thy love's kisses to the gladdened earth, 
Clearing the azure spaces of the sky 
And filling the brown sunlit fields below 
With the pure laughter of a thousand flowers 
And of sun-ripened fruit world-nourishing ! 

[109] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Thee, great Jehovah, Zeus, or Manitou, 
I, too, thy humble creature and thy child, 
Call, that with thy sphere-moving harmonies 
Thou mayest touch my longing heart and mind 
To sing of things that live not in the world 
Of darkened graves fed by the corpse of life 
But of things dwelling in thy higher temple 
That grave-transcending rise in purity 
To the great life of beauty and of light ! 

The Mountain 

I watch at the gates of dawn and of night ; 
With unwearied eyes, I measure the world 
Below and the heavens above; and my sight 
Is filled with the wonders of ages unfurled! 

I cover my head with the glow of snow-flakes, 
And I stud my streambeds with pebbles and 

boulders ; 
I mirror my face in a thousand lakes, 
And a thousand fountains gush from my 

shoulders ! 

I am first to rise at the break of dawn; 
The sunbeams entwine for my brow their 
crowns ; 

riioi 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

I am last to part with the day ; and drawn 
Into magic shadows, I live through night's 
frowns ! 

Eternity 's trustiest mirror am I ! 
I fling into sky my conquerless towers! 
And £eons in myriads past me fly 
As the clouds, and the winds, and my bosom's 
flowers ! 

The Clouds 

Away from the pearl-sown caves of the luring 

sea, 
And far from the silver ripples of millions of 

lakes. 
And up from the unseen breath of flower and 

tree. 
We rise by a thousand trails ; and our substance 

takes 
Vast legions of drifting fantastic shapes 
From lily-clad angels to mocking apes ! 
In a myriad flocks of sunlit and white-fleeced 

sheep. 
We graze in the inflnite pastures of scarlet and 

blue; 

[111] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

In glorious garlands, we play with the morning 

dew; 
And, whipped into wrath, we blacken the purple 

deep! 

Sun-driven, we form into crowns of pearls on 
the mountains; 

And clothe with transfiguring haze the valleys 
and hills! 

With our tears, we replenish the nourishing 
rivers, and fountains. 

And increase with our copious showers the 
brooks and the rills! 

We gladden the thirsty fields with our rains, 

And the forests, and dales, and meadows, and 
plains ! 

Wind-beaten, we sweep like angry monsters on 
high. 

And crush with our torrents the oaks and the 
laborer's toil! 

We flood with our waters the valleys and sun- 
dried soil. 

And smite with our blazing thunderbolts moun- 
tain and sky! 

[ 112 ] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



The Wind 



From mountain and vale, 
From rock-hewn canyon and shadowy 
dale, 
I spring upon whistling wings of a myriad 

plume! 
From the rolling and forestless steppes of the 

rosy East, 
From the cliffs of the golden eagle and haunts 

of the beast, 
With weariless flight, I dash to my endless 
doom! 

From ocean and bay 
And the billows' spray, 
I sweep over evergreen prairies wdth conquer- 
ing breath; 
And in amber clouds of burning dust, I blow on 

my way 
Through the sandy deserts of waterless yellow 

and gray. 
And raise on my trail the merciless paleness of 
death ! 

Loud-roaring and strong. 
And risen from millions of harps, my 
song 

[113] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Unravels or mingles the voices of forests and 

streams ! 
But mightier still, it thunders and revels and 

swells 
On the pinnacled crests of the mountains; and, 

buoyant, it wells 
With harmonies resonant, filled with the music 

of dreams! 

Unfettered and free 
In my jubilee, 
I make of each hollow or pine a trumpet or lyre ! 
I blow on the mountain gulfs; and the giants 

bow 
Into bushes scrubby and scraggly and knotted 

and low, 
The creeping dwarfs of my breath and the 
slaves of my ire! 

Cloud-gatherer, I 

Dismantle and mantle the azure sky! 
And blowing from North and its glaciers of 

stiffening cold, 
I frighten the laughing stream into voiceless 
glass ! 

[114] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

I deaden the rippling waves and the verdant 

grass, 
And wring into pallor the leaves with my 

savage hold! 

I lash into snows 
The rains with my blows, 
And bind with the earth the roaring sea at mj^ 

will! 
I make the ancient trees of the forest quake ! 
I shroud with my ice the face of the restless lake, 
And I herald the winter's reign over field and 
hill! 

The Sun 

I shine, and the world is aglow with laughter 

and light; 
I hide, and the earth in mourning sinks into 

night; 
I rise, and all living things are astir and re- 
joice; 
I set, and the mantles of silence muffle life's 
voice. 

Were I not, would the forest be green ? 
Lived I not, would the living live? 
Shone I not, who could rise to give 
To the world my creative sheen? 

[115] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

I am master of all; of the fountains of life and 

of death. 
No cloud can roam iu the pastures of blue but 

for me. 
What colors the azure sky and the sapphire sea ? 
And the wind, — would he boast of his mighty 

wings and his breath? 

Would the glaciers imprison the distant ends of 

the earth 
If I chose to battle their chains with my radiant 

mirth? 
Would the mountain torrents sculpture the 

granite walls 
If the clouds at my will plunged not into water- 
falls? 

Were I not, who would banish the 

night? 
Lived I not, whence the flames would 

hail? 
Shone I not, would the moon smile pale 
And the planets so blithe and so bright ? 
I am master of all and the fountain of beauty 

and light; 
I clothe the meadows with flowers; I ripen the 
grain; 

[116] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

I mantle the world with glory, empurple the 
main, 

And raise on the mountains the altars of god- 
like might! 

The Forest, the Moon, and the Stars: 

In him we glory, the fountain of light; 
He touches the gates of the gladsome day, 
And the heavens exult in their crimson play. 
Triumphantly greeting the victor of night! 

We praise him, the father of life's desire! 
He passes the gates of the golden west, 
And the mellow glimmers of dreamful rest 
Make gold of mountain and plain with their fire ! 

We praise him, who clothes us with glorious 

rays! 
We praise him, who fills us with life and glow ! 
We praise him, who keeps us with radiant flow, 
The slayer of darkness and giver of days ! 

II 
THE VISION 

Mount Ktaadn 

Cloud-mantled stood the mountain; but the 
clouds 

[117] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Spoke not of wrath that travels on the wings 
Of lightning serpents thunder- voiced. They were 
Of flaxen white and shone like crowns empearled 
In the bright sun that flooded with its beams 
The amethystine mountain buttresses, 
The forest sea of stern or laughing green, 
And the blue sleepless eyes of countless lakes 
Shining with myriads of sparkling flowers. 
Pure gold and silver, born of shafts of light. 

The granite cliffs, in age-wrought majesty. 
Rose proud above the tops of balsam firs. 
Of fragrant cedars, and of moaning pines. 
Crag upon crag, the voiceless pinnacles 
Ascended to the sapphire vaults, a host 
Of mighty Sphinx-like giants, looking on 
As the swift tide of the great Titan, Time, 
Rolled with its surging billows over sea 
And land, unmaking days and years and ages, 
Blowing with deadly blast against the race 
Of man and beast and plant, and revelling 
In dust and nothingness upon its trail 
Of crumbling ruins and of empty graves. 

Yet they, the mute and solemn witnesses 
Of life's vast drama, ever challenging 

[118] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The great destroyer, stood erect and firm 
With feet of somber gray and brows of red, 
The speechless heralds of their lasting might, 
Baffling the blows of Time with changelessness 
And ever singing with their silences 
The hymn of victory against his waves. 

The moanful branches of the darkling trees 
Bowed down in reverence and whispered softly 
Their soughing prayers to the passing wind, 
Who, surging with the fragrant melodies. 
Rolled on and brought them upon quickened 

pinions 
Upward and upward till their ripples reached 
The granite lords and died in granite silence. 

No living creature dwelled upon the cliffs; 
No mortal man or beast dared touch their brows. 
Only the eagle, king of birds, would wing 
His way above them in his airy flight, 
Rejoicing on his trail ethereal. 
Of mortal men, the pure alone might climb 
Up the sky-gladdened peaks and stand nigh God 
To fill their breasts with lily fragrances 
Of all transfiguring divinity. 

[119 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 



Morning Dew 



And Morning Dew, the Indian maiden, stood 
Upon the sacred mountain's highest peak 
And trembled as the shining clouds, descending 
Like brilliant pendants from the azure spheres, 
Clasped her bare body in their soft embrace. 
Upon earth's fields no lily ever grew 
More pure, no summer rose more beautiful. 
A song of songs, her flowing hair coal-black; 
Fountains of light, her eyes; a sea of rhythms, 
Her round breast curving as a turtle dove's 
And palpitating as a frightened deer's; 
Her arms, uplifted to the hidden skies. 
Strengthened like silent melodies her prayer 
That rose in singing flames from grief-rent 
heart. 

Thus had she stood since sunrise. With the faith 
Of innocence and the sweet hope of youth. 
She had dared forest-dwelling savage wolves, 
The thorny brambles of the undergrowth. 
The angry whirls of mighty mountain streams. 
The precipices yawning at her feet. 
The mountain gods' relentless wrath, and all 
The dangers of want and vengeful wilderness, 
To reach her place of pilgrimage. The night 

ri201 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Had bathed her body with the holy dew; 
The dawn had mantled her with mountain 

vapors ; 
No sin defiled her bosom jasmine pure. 

But the Great Spirit frowned upon her still; 
And Morning Dew, the Indian maiden, stood 
Upon the sacred mountain's highest peak 
And trembled like a lonely aspen's leaves 
Over the treeless shore of a dark lake 
When the north wind descends upon its waters ; 
Then the dark waters shiver at the touch, 
And the pale leaves of the white lonesome tree 
Shudder and moan with fear at death's cold kiss, 
And linger yet a little ere they fall 
Upon the ground where all their brothers lie. 
Thus Morning Dew did shake with agony, 
And, buried in the clouds with arms uplifted. 
She prayed in growing weariness with words 
That rose in singing flames from grief- rent 
heart : 

Manitou 

*'Hear now, chief of mountains, lord of might, 
Hear my heart's prayer, Great Manitou, 
Who standest foremost 'midst the countless 
hills! 

[1211 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Listen, I say, to thine own people's mourning! 

The Wabanaki, Children of thy Light, 

Dwelling about the lakes and streams that lie 

Before thee, from the great salt water whence 

The warm sun rises at the gates of day 

To the white mountains of the crimson west, 

Even thy people, smitten by the blows 

Of Memelek, the Evil Spirit, die 

With the cold snakes of sorrow in their hearts. 

For now the days are evil and woe-born; 
Their years of joy and laughter are long buried 
Under thy fallen garment of dark clouds. 
No longer are our wigwams warm with fire ; 
We have no more soft robes for coverings ; 
Our feasts that made the people once content 
Are ended. For the wolves have filled the woods 
With hungry howls; the moose and caribou 
Come not within the hunter's spear. Black pest 
Strikes our young children ere they know the 

joy 
Of noble deeds. Our maidens die ere bloom; 
Our warriors return with fatal wounds 
From blood-red battlefields, and find no wives 
To grind their corn and gladden them with food, 
Warming them back to life with their sweet love ! 

[122] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

No children come to climb upon their laps 
And touch with tender hands their weary 

breasts ; 
Even the faithful watchers of their wigwams, 
The dogs that danced and barked about them 

once, 
Come not to meet them on their homeward trail. 

For all are smitten with the evil sword 
Of evil Memelek, thy foe. She stirred 
Against thy people wolfish slaves from "West 
And South, the war-glad Mohawks drunk with 

blood. 
They came with clouds of arrows sped by bows 
Of death and with grim-flashing tomahawks. 
As many as the trees that grow about Thee, 
Filling their belts with scalps of our young chiefs, 
And dragging into dire captivity 
Their mourning brides. 

Oh, stretch thy mighty hand, 
Great Manitou, and pour thy healing balsam 
On our sore wounds! Hear now, Lord of 

Mountains, 
Who standest high among the shining clouds ! 
Pity, I say, thy dying people ! Give, 

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LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Oh, give us back those happy days of yore ! 
The daughter of a chief, the Cloudless Sky, 
Strengthened and loved by Thee before his death, 
And of the Early Da^vn, the flower of brides, 
Sprung of thy race and honored by thy blood 
Even beneath her grave, their daughter, I 
Cry unto Thee for help, Great Manitou, 
Show upon us again thy sunlit smile ! ' ' 

A flaming snake quivered across the sky; 
The mountain trembled with loud thundering; 
Over the moanful shudder of the forest, 
Up the steep granite walls, a mighty wind 
Myriad-trumpeted roared angrily; 
And darkness tangible enveloped all. 
Shutting from Morning Dew 's fear-haunted eyes 
Even the shining clouds that closed about her. 
Her blood was chilled ; her lips stood motionless 
Like roses wild when not a breath stirs by; 
Her knees exhausted bent upon the rocks. 

But still she held her maiden hands uplifted 
When lo, a shaft of brilliant sunshine tore 
The blackened clouds asunder instantly, 
And crowned the virgin's hair with a gold 

crown 
Of laughing radiance. The azure fields 

ri241 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Above smiled endless smiles again. The clouds 
Of darkness, panic-stricken, fled away. 

And Morning Dew felt in her gladdened heart 

Sweet summer birds sing songs of joy and light. 

Hope made again its nest within her breast. 

Reorient with seething life, she rose 

Not in her former nakedness but robed 

With a white robe of lily fragrances 

That the bright clouds had wrought about her 

body, 
Weaving with mystic glimmers their pure garb. 
Thus sunlight-crowned and lily-clad, she stood 
And wondered, when the mountain breeze was 

filled 
With sky-bom sounds of god-like melodies: 

** Sweet lilies for her raiment, 
And sunlight for each fold! 
The clouds are bright and clement 
For virgins pure and bold. 

The golden sunbeams playing 
Weave garlands for her hair 
And warm her heart, obeying 
The spirits of the air. 

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LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Bright is her glance and gleaming! 
Her maiden lips, afire ! 
Her breasts, two hillsides streaming 
With nectar of desire ! 

Sweet lilies for her raiment, 
Whom mountains come to woo! 
The bridegroom listens clement 
To thee, Morning Dew!" 

The Lord of the Mountain 

And Morning Dew, the maiden lily-clad 
And sunlight-crowned, beheld with wonderment 
A chandelier of pendant clouds descend 
In milky whiteness from the crimsoned skies 
Upon the sacred mountain's highest peak 
Just when the sun, aflame with scarlet fire, 
Filled the great heavens with its mellow glow, 
Tinging the treetops of the bristling forest 
With the gold sheen of the sun-ripened corn, 
Touching the silent granites of the mountain 
With blood-red splendors of a mystic light, 
Brightening with its dying rays the seas 
Of sapphire hollows, purple battlements. 
And topaz slopes, and flooding with soft glim- 
mers 

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LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The iridescent faces of a thousand 
Bright sparkling lakes and laughing mountain 
streams. 

The cloud then vanished, and before her stood 
A youth more beautiful than the thought image 
That a ripe maiden verging on love's river 
Makes in her dreams of her expected lover. 

Four times he called with accents soft her name ; 
Four times did Morning Dew feel quivering 
Her heart at the sweet sound; nor dared she 

move, 
Enchanted by the magic of the song. 
But he came forward, touched her maiden hand, 
And pointed to the setting crimson star 
Beyond the western hills: ''The day is gone;" 
Said he, "thy youthful frame, long-tried and 

cold 
With hunger, fear, and darkness, longs for rest ; 
And in my father's realm a palace waits 
Open for thee. For thy angelic prayer 
Brought waves of gladness to his ears and 

mine. ' ' 

[127] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The Temple of Dreams 

He raised his hand against the granite wall: 

The rocks hard with long ages numberless 

Were cleft asunder in obedience; 

And from the cleft came forth a flood of light 

And breezes redolent of spring and youth. 

And Morning Dew thrice-happy bowed her head 

And let the wondrous youth lead her away 

Through a light-flooded garden of all flowers 

More brilliant than the glory of the rainbow, 

More fragrant than her sixteen springs in one, 

More marvelous than all her childhood 's dreams. 

And in the midst of the great wonderland, 

A crystal palace rose illuminant 

On crystal rocks; and down the crystal rocks, 

Waters like crystal limpid and pellucid 

Sang songs of perfect happiness and laughed 

With flying sparkles of white spray as they 

Dashed on the rocks in merry swirls, and curled 

About the gladdened myriads of flowers. 

And on the floating clouds of spray that waved 

In the soft wind like bridal veils, the sun 

Mirrored his visage in resplendent rainbows 

Circling the palace with their radiance 

Like great triumphant arches wrought of light. 

[128] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

"That is my father's palace," said the youth, 
"The mighty Manitou's, whose Spirit is 
The ever flowing fountain of all life 
And light. Thou mayest not stand upon its 

threshold, 
Bound as thou art by mortal woman's flesh. 
Beyond its gates, the Happy Hunting Grounds 
Spread far away with moose of golden antlers 
And beasts of an immortal flesh that roam 
Through forests redolent with ripened fruit 
Hanging on golden boughs above fresh streams. 
There all great chiefs that passed from times of 

old 

Dwell and hunt, armed with shining bows and 

arrows 
Of adamantine heads; and deathless birds 
That never seek a happier springtime 
Lull them to sleep with endless songs of pure 
And lasting happiness. There is thy father. 
Chief of the Children of the East renowned. 
And all the Wabanaki who have died 
Battling with evil or in righteous peace ; 
And they are happy though invisible 
To mortal eyes even so bright as thine, 
Morning Dew, whose dwelling is the rose. ' ' 

[129] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The Palace of Love 

The youth stooped down and touched the amber 

earth 
They trod; and at his touch, a rosebush grew 
As swiftly as the mountain brooks in spring 
Flow, swollen with the rains and melting snows. 
And the rosebush grew thornless ; and its boughs 
Embraced with velvet leaves each other fast 
And built with tender trellises a couch 
Of living verdure. Then from laughing buds 
The roses blossomed forth with petals white, 
As white as foam against the purple surge 
Of the great sea or as the jasmine's brightness 
Against its mother bush of darkling green. 

Forthwith the roses spread their fragrances 
Upon the verdant couch, and, circling it 
With flower walls of wondrous blossoming, 
Hung from its balsam-dripping roof in clusters 
Of lustrous white and green, perfecting thus 
A bridal bower paradisiac. 
Imprisoned in sweet happiness, they sat; 
And Morning Dew bowed down her head and 

wept 
Warm tears of voiceless joy and reverence, 
Leaning upon the shoulder of the youth. 

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LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And then her memory brought back the cloud 

Of sorrow burdening her father's race, 

And changed her tears of joy to tears of grief. 

The Promise 

The godlike youth unrolled her hidden thoughts 
And spoke: **Weep not for them, Morning 

Dew! 
Happy are they for whom thy tears have 

spoken ! 
Even when thou didst shake with mighty fear 
At the loud thundering that marked the trail 
Of the bright lightning snake across the clouds, 
My father frowned in wrath against his foe; 
And with my fiery arrows from my walls, 
I smote thy people's vanquished enemy. 
Mohawks and pestilence have fled away; 
The wigwams ring with laughter and with peace ; 
The warriors come back triumphantly, 
And meet the tearful glances of their brides 
And the glad songs and shouts of happy chil- 
dren; 
The hungry wolves are driven to their lairs 
Beyond the icy streams of northern hills; 
And moose and caribou shall roam again 
Abundantly about thy people's dwellings. 

[1311 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

''Even more radiant the future smiles: 
For from thy womb, Morning Dew, a child 
God-risen shall be born, whose deeds shall fill 
The Red Men's land from where the Day-star 

rises 
To where the evening waters lie asleep. 
The mountain spirits shall behold his glory; 
And the night stars shall twinkle over him, 
Smiling their smile of praising radiance. 
And he shall lead his people with his might 
And wisdom; and all the Red Men, bowing 

down. 
Shall bless the power of the Wabanaki, 
Children of Light, who dwell against the sun, 
Making the Red Men's wigwam a great light 
To all the dazzled nations of the earth, 
Unless the Evil Spirit touches them." 
Morning Dew listened in a blissful trance. 
Hanging upon his lips that bloomed with hope 
And tore the granite walls of sightless future 
Asunder to show a paradise of bliss. 

Long after he had spoken, she gazed on, 
Transported by the silent melodies 
That haunted his enchanting eyes and dwelt 
Upon the myriads of thornless roses 

[132] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Revelling in their royal robes of white. 
Then with heart trembling in her ecstasy, 
She asked: "And who art thou, most wonderful 
And godlike youth, whom the Great Spirit made 
His son and lifted with his might so high?'* 

The Four Sacred Mountains 

The youth caressed the maiden's hair and 

spoke : 
''Four sacred mountains did my father make 
Of old : The mountain in the North, he fastened 
With a great rainbow on the wind-blown earth. 
He decked it with black beads, dark mist, and 

plants 
Wind-beaten and storm-bent through which wild 

wolves, 
Maddened with cold, roam hungry and snow- 
clad. 
Its head is dreaming with eternal snow 
And droops in dark and lonesome weariness; 
And from its flinty crest, the throne of winds, 
And from its rugged shoulders, nests of storms, 
Glaciers of whiteness desolate sweep downward, 
Gnawing with icy teeth the mighty rocks 
Into the impotence of dust and gravel, 
Cutting with their resistless blades of glass 

[133] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

The granite towers and the cliffs of flint, 
And banishing with their titanic torrents 
Mountains and hills and streams and lakes and 

plants 
Far from the places of their alpine birth. 
And over it, a covering of darkness 
Hides it away with gloom perpetual. 

''Second he made the mountain to the South: 
He fastened it upon the sun-burned land 
Thrusting a knife of stone from top to bottom 
Hewn from the buried bosom of the earth. 
He decked it with turquoise of bluish-green, 
Gray clouds of flooding rains and forests thick 
Of rosewood, ebony, and rubber trees. 
Luxuriant in undergrowth and filled 
With giant ferns, and creeping vines, and 

flowers 
Hanging from trees with roots that draw their 

life 
From the damp air of sunless shadow- worlds. 
Parrots and humming birds make there their 

nests ; 
And the black- spotted yellow jaguars 
Prey on the gentle tapirs blackish brown, 
The shy nocturnal dwellers of green woods 

[134] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Bathed in the waters of the torrid zone. 
And over all, turquoise and clouds and forests, 
He spread a covering of azure sky 
That smiles in fleeting hours of bright sunshine 
And frowns in long-drawn weeks of flooding 
rains. 

' ' Then third he made the mountain to the West : 
He fastened it with a shaft wrought of sunlight 
Upon the amber earth on sunset shores. 
He decked it with bright abalone shells 
Vaunting their nacreous lines before the sun 
And yellow corn, the gold delight of men. 
Coyotes haunt the prairies circling it; 
And in its glens the mountain lions roar 
Filling with fear the graceful antelopes 
And the swift-footed elks. And over it 
He spread a glow of lasting mellowness 
Transfiguring the mountain with its luster 
Like velvet covering of amber cloud. 

''But last he made the mountain to the East, 
And fastened it to the red-gleaming earth 
With a fire bolt of lightning. Then its crest, 
He decked with lightning snakes; its granite 
walls, 

[135] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

With shells of sparkling white; its feet, with 

corn 
Of yellow brilliancy heart-gladdening; 
And its deep hollows with a sea of clouds, 
Clouds flaxen-white, and crimson-red, and black. 
The eagle, king of birds, dwells on its cliffs ; 
Wise beavers build their dams across its streams ; 
Deer, moose, and caribou graze on its slopes; 
And at its feet, the wrens and thrushes sing 
With larks and robins of the coming spring. 
And in his goodness, the Great Spirit spread 
Over the. mountain a rich covering 
Of daylight pure, sprung from the purple sea, 
And called the mighty mountain's name Great 

Ktaadn, 
Ktaadn, the lofty palace of sunrise. 
The Sacred Mountain of the Eastern Lands, 
Raising its head with glimmers roseate 
In lonesome majesty to greet the stars 
First, as they rise from the blue tireless main. 
Ktaadn am I, the mountain's ruling spirit, 
The mighty wielder of the thunderbolt. 
The sleepless watcher of the morning gates. 
Thy lover and thy wooer, Morning Dew, 
Thou wondrous blossom of the Cloudless Sky 
And of the Early Dawn, sweet child of light, 

[136] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

My chosen bride among a myriad 

Of the sweet maidens of the Wabanaki!" 

The Reign of Love 

And Ktaadn, aglow with love, bent over her 
And kissed the budding lips of Morning Dew. 

mighty Love, King of all living things, 
Whose surging seas of fiery passion break 
On youth's bright realm, now laughing in sweet 

rhythms 
A laughter numberless of joy and bliss, 
And now, in heavy darkness, roaring loud 
With bitter agonies; great Creator 
And stem Destroyer; our life's bitter rue 
And honeyed nectar; flower of crimson fra- 
grance 
And thorn of black affliction ; by whose smile, 
The gates of heaven open, and whose frown 
Dashes man's life against the rocks of woe, 
Be gracious unto me, thy humble bard. 
And smile upon the love of Morning Dew! 
And as thou makest in the spring the fields 
Blossom with countless flowers and the trees 
Bud with fresh leaves, the messengers of fruit, 
And joinest savage beasts with burning passion 

[137] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

And liftest Earth to Sky and Sky to Earth, 
Winging all nature with thy flooding song, 
Thus lift her heart in godlike ecstasy 
And fill her with the rapture of thy fire, 
The golden crown of human happiness! 

Upon the sacred mountain's highest peak. 
Drunk with the nectar of the snow-white roses 
And with the amber wine of happiness. 
The human soul embraced divinity; 
And the great dream it dreamed in the low 

valleys 
Took flesh ambrosial on the mountain tops ! 

Memelek 

But lo, the Evil Spirit is awake, 

The frightful Memelek, who hated Ktaadn, 

The son of Manitou, her enemy. 

And fain would reek her vengeance on Morning 

Dew, 
The mortal vessel of his happiness, 
Whose lily innocence and peerless beauty 
Was piercing thorn to her unfathomed eye. 

Scorned for her ugliness and hateful thoughts 
And loathsome deeds, the evil Memelek, 

[138] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Mistress of vengeance and of sin, dwelt fai 

Apart from all good spirits in a gorge 

Of utter darkness pierced by a black stream 

Of reeking blood most hideous to see. 

Upon the angry faces of its banks, 

Amidst a barrenness thrice-desolate. 

The lurid cactus, struggling for its life 

With its pale-yellow spines and thickened skin, 

Grew in long rows of ghastly leafless masts 

Unbannered, shelterless, inhospitable 

Even to bloodless insects seeking food ; 

No air-rejoicing birds with whistling wings 

Ever flew over them, or ever stopped 

To rest upon their lonely spiny tops. 

But timorously steered their course away 

From Memelek's uncouth and gloomy land. 

Grim, voiceless terrors only flapped their wings 
In frightful resonance and groped about 
In the dark hollows of the wilderness ; 
And horror-crested snakes with scaly skins 
Coal-black crept slowly from the filthy stream 
With fierce benumbing eyes turning to stone 
All living things that dared but look on them. 
And as they crept, their swift-vibrating tongues 
Sprinkled the flowing venom of their fangs 

[ 139 ] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Upon their barren trail of lifeless dust. 
Their mistress' true thralls they were, the slaves 
Of Memelek's unflinching wrath and hatred: 
They were her couch, her foot-stool, and her 

crown; 
They made her girdle, decked her storm-like 

hair, 
And with their bitter flesh they filled hfer hunger 
In the dark revels of her evil triumphs. 

Thus now from her dark-yawning cavern where 

Not even Terror enters fearing her. 

She saw with mountain-piercing eyes the joy 

Of Morning Dew and Ktaadn in their bower 

As they sat drunk with the pure wine of love 

Among the thornless roses milky-white. 

She frowned with foaming wrath her ugly frown 

And struck the mountain side with her black 

claws 
To make an unseen path for her dark vengeance. 
Through it she bade the crawling serpents go. 
And, creeping through the roses secretly, 
Pour into Morning Dew's life-blood their venom. 
At her command, the serpents coiled and 

writhed 
Eagerly; and rearing their thrice-crested heads 

[1401 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Into the opened passage, hissed with vile 
And quenchless ire, and sprang upon their trail 
With circling coils, swelling their hollow fangs 
With a new flow of venom. Forward creeping 
Slowly and stealthily, at last they reach 
The rosy bower and coil about the branches. 

The Triumph op the Rose 

And now with eager heads, they seek to glide 
Through leaf and flower that they might deal 

the blow 
Of painful death; when lo, struck with fierce 

pain, 
The slimy reptiles fling their bodies back 
And try in vain with writhes of agony 
To snatch themselves from the relentless grip 
Of the victoriously struggling boughs. 
For when the faithful watchers of Ktaadn's love 
Beheld with ready care the snakes creep on, 
Bristling with righteous wrath against the 

beasts. 
They armed their bark with a thick panoply 
Of brown sharp-pointed thorns that blossomed 

swift 
From where the stem creeps into the glad day 

[141] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Parting with the earth-dwelling, downward 

growing 
And life-controlling roots to the branch-tops 
Where life bursts into merry fragrances, 
And, thrusting them into the serpents' skins, 
Filled them with anguish and the throes of 

death. 
Lifeless they droop their powerless heads and 

hang 
In harmless wreaths, unmindful of the words 
Their mistress spoke; and all the venom bred 
By their earth-creeping race availed them not! 

But over them, the blithe avengers, glad 
For their great victory, danced merrily 
And mingled their sweet breath in ecstasy 
With the cool breeze that, blowing past the 

stream 
Of the Great Spirit's palace crystalline. 
Wafted above the bower a veil of spray. 
Forthwith the sun embraced it with pure light 
And spanned it with triumphant arches shining 
With deepest red, soft orange, yellow, green. 
And violet blue. Exuberant with joy. 

The roses, envying the rainbow's glory 

And burning for its colored gladness, blushed 

[142] 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Their robes of white away ! Hast thou not seen 
The blessed hour of some uncommon sunset, 
When on the azure seas of golden West 
Fantastic clouds of fleecy whiteness float 
Like mystic isles upon the heaven's deep, 
How, in swift answer to the parting kisses 
Of the far-sinking sun, they turn from white 
To cream, from cream to yellow gold and saf- 
fron. 
Until their orange robes plunge into pink, 
And, dyed with soft vermilion and with scarlet, 
Hang in deep crimson folds against a field 
Of olive-green, the evanescent waves 
Of golden oceans? Thus the roses blushed 
From white to crimson, changing robes of glory 
Beneath the shining arches of the rainbow! 

Thus were the races of the roses born. 
That ever since grow with their prickly stems 
In memory of the great triumph won 
Over the Evil Spirit's vengefulness. 

Sweet flower, bringing into our low life 
The blessed fragrance of divinity. 
Filling our mortal eyes with purity 
Of colored gladness, and reminding us 

[143 1 



LIGHTS AT DAWN 

Of what our brooding hearts might be, detached 

Of evil, might I sing with mortal lips 

A song reflecting even faintly thee ! 

Yet I cannot ; and, spell-bound with thy charms, 

Too weak to grasp thy smile celestial, 

I gaze on thee with wonder and delight 

As one who sees in vision what he dreams ! 

Thus over Ktaadn's love, in lustrous waves 
Of fragrant joy, the tender victors danced 
Triumphantly, caressing their new thorns 
And marveling at their new crimson robes 
With the delight of maiden innocence. 

And Morning Dew, the Wabanaki's pride, 

The child of light, sprung from the Cloudless 

Sky 
And Early Dawn, lived happy in her love. 
And made her dwelling in Lord Ktaadn 's bosom, 
Ktaadn, the mountain of the crimson East, 
Raising his head with glimmers roseate 
In lonesome majesty to the bright stars. 
Cloud-gatherer and sunlight-reveller. 
The mighty wielder of the thunderbolt 
And sleepless watcher of the morning gates. 

Peacham, Vermont. 
August, 1916. 

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